Harmony Defender harness is too short.

I have been using a Harmony Defender for my 4.25 year old son for about a year. He is currently 47 lbs, 42.5 inches and has a 16 inch torso height. I LOVE the Defender. I love how it fits him and how easy it is to install in my Suburban.

What I don’t love…he has nearly grown out of harness length. Right now with his fleece coat on he has about a half of an inch of shoulder strap length before the splitter plate hits the back of the seat. He will gain a little bit of length when he stops wearing his coat. How in the world is this car seat supposed to fit a 65 lb kid?

I e-mailed Harmony to ask if a longer harness was available. Here is their reply:


Personally, that is a lame reply. How is taking a ½ inch thick piece of foam from under his bum going to get him to 65 lbs harnessed?

So…the reason for this post is…how do you affect change with a car seat manufacturer? Can we start a campaign to compel them to provide a longer harness. Can it be called false advertising when a manufacturer states the car seat can accommodate a 65 lb child in harness mode when there is no realistic way that the car seat can actually do that? I know that when the Defender first came out it had a super short crotch buckle and it seemed like they quickly made a longer one available. Can all of you defender owners drop them an e-mail and ask for a longer harness so they will see there is a need?


**On another note, in the same e-mail I asked if I could use LATCH in booster mode. Here is there reply:

There is no risk to your child if the seat is latched in booster mode, as long as you use the vehicle’s seat belt to fasten your child into the booster. It actually isn’t safer, but it does prevent the seat from moving around in the car when its not in use.​

**

I wonder if they have made a new strap set because mine which is brand new, I live in Canada, was able to have a 53", 70 pound, 19" torso child in for a harness length test. It was tight, but it went.

Would you mind measuring the length of the shoulder straps? Maybe mine is an anomaly.

Most seats, if not all, will be outgrown well before a child reaches the maximum weight. The maximums are not saying that a child will fit until those weights, just that a seat will perform with a child of that weight. My children have all outgrown their seats by height well before weight.

That said, how much further does your child have until he reaches the top harness slot? Can you move the harness to that slot and see if you have more room? And have you checked the entire length of the harness to make sure there aren't any twists hidden? Does the harmony have different loops for smaller and larger children at the hips that might have been missed?

:dance:I figured it out!!!:dance:

When my son is buckled in the car seat and I try to lengthen the harness the splitter plate gets caught by the head rest adjustment mechanism. If I unbuckle him and the harness is all loose the splitter plate can move past it. I finally lifted up the cover of the headrest and could see where the splitter plate was getting caught. When it gets caught it eats up about 2 inches of harness length.

:jive:Now I can go back to happily loving my Harmony Defender!!

That is great!

Awesome!!